Maximus Decimus Meridius - A Character Study

“Gladiator” has one of the strongest characters I have ever seen. Watching this movie recently after staying away from it for years because I knew it too well was a great re-awakening to the genius that is Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott. As we discussed the movie in class further revelations made. One of them was the fact that none of the main characters have much of an arc. Every single one of them are solid and stagnate in who they are, they will not change.  That is one of the main themes of this movie, how to stay true to yourself in overwhelming circumstances. The other theme I found was the concept of battle and how it can be fought. Maximus plays with both of these themes throughout this movie in such a way that it doesn’t seem unnatural, but realistic, enchanting, and powerful.

            In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to a man who is the finest general Rome has ever seen. He has led a massive army into countless battles for twelve years and has just defeated the last of the enemy. He fights because it is his duty. He is a general and he will do what is ordered of him. He is a very strong and resolute man with an army full of men that love and fear him. It is said over and over again that those who follow him would go as far as the ends of the earth for him. If he leads a battle, they are victorious. He is extremely skilled in the art of warfare and easily wins the respect of his men. With the Caesar (Richard Harris) looking to pass his powers to lead his country into a time of peace and to give the power back to the senate, he looks to Maximus because he knows the delicate and horrific nature of battle. After the murder of Caesar and Maximus’ family by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the son of Caesar, Maximus must fight for a completely new reason.

            Maximus begins his new life of a slave when he is picked up by a trader and sold to an entertainer by the name of Proximo. Proximo buys Maximus and many more men only so that he can profit from their death. He will make them fight for their lives whenever he chooses. He makes them fight not for land, or glory, or fame, but simply for their meaningless lives. He makes them gladiators. They will fight when he says fight. Maximus now has been given orders to fight because it is entertaining to see a man die by the sword. After struggling with whether or not he will fight, he decides that he will not simply lie down and take the sword to the chest, but will fight for mere nature of survival. There is no glory to be won in these battles. Not yet. Even though he doesn’t have an army with him, he remains true, steadfast and brave. He faces his enemy head on, without fear. It is not overconfidence that makes his success, but nature as a man and a warrior at heart. He will fight for what he believes in. After a couple of battles as a gladiator, he rebels against the establishment that owns him. For the first time he chooses his battle. He chooses who he targets next. After he kills the last man in the ring, he throws his sword into the stands directly at the spectators and screams “I do not entertain!” Finally he stands up for himself in the face of those who control his very life. He is just the same man as I saw in the beginning of the film leading thousands of men into battle. Now he is fighting all by himself in front of retched men and women who want to see a snippet of the glory they have heard so much about in real warfare. He is no longer just fighting for his own survival, but now chooses to fight against their control over his life. But when the tables are through his rebellion and skill with a blade, the crowd loves him all the more for it.

            Maximus slowly starts to gain more and more power through the people that watch him fight. They begin to fear and respect him because he fights honorably, and extremely well. With the new Caesar on the throne bringing back the Gladiatorial fights in Rome, Maximus and his few friends are brought to Rome to fight in front of thousands of people in the biggest stage known to man: the Colosseum. Here Maximus fights for the chance to come face to face with his family’s murderer. If he can become famous enough and loved by those who watch him, he just might be able to be brought in front of Caesar himself and get the chance to strike out at the man who destroyed his life. Maximus fights for revenge. He wants to repay the damage done to those responsible. Battle after battle he fights and wins. He remains strong and loyal to those who love him. He is continuously reminding himself that although his family is gone, they can wait for him to finish his business and then come home. Maximus begins to gain power through the mob even though he is still considered a slave. In the last, epic battle of the movie, Maximus battles Caesar himself in the arena, one on one. The fight he has been waiting for. With anger welling up inside him more and more every day it takes all that he has within himself to fight smart. Due to a stab to the side before the batte by Caesar, Maximus is on the edge of death the whole time, and yet he fights. As he always has. He continues to fight even though the outcome looks as if it won’t be the ending he was hoping for. The swords are dropped and it becomes a fist fight. No longer are they fighting with the weapons of war, but with what God gave them. Maximus has nothing in his hands, but Caesar pulls out a knife and starts to fight unfairly. Which is an enormous symbol to how he fights every battle. Even in an uneven fight, Maximus comes out on top and kills Caesar. Only then does the fighting stop. Only then does Maximus lower his guard and literally falls to the ground. He is done. He fought with strength and honor.

            Even though Maximus traveled all over Italy, won a war, lost his family, became a gladiator, killed an emperor, he never changed who he was at heart. He remained the same throughout. His methods of fighting on the other hand were completely changing from battles for honor and glory to survival and revenge. He remained loyal at all times and fought valiantly in every battle. He was only concerned about those closest to him and the worries of his own life. All he wanted to do was go home. In every word, in every swing of the blade, it was just to get him closer to home.

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Gladiator

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. "Gladiator" is one of the first movies I remember watching and being completely enthralled by it. I didn’t even understand the political story, I just liked to see Russell Crowe kick some serious butt. As I got older I watched the movie again and again and after every viewing I find more things about the story that entice me beyond the epic battles that Ridley Scott was able to produce.

            A powerful, and exhausted Roman General, Maximus (Russell Crowe), who has just successfully ended a war after twelve years under Ceasar Augustus (Richard Harris), is offered the job of Ceasar after Augustus dies. Even though Maximus doesn’t want the job, the Ceasar’s son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), is extremely jealous and ends up killing his father so that he can become the next Ceasar before anyone figures out that the job was actually passed to someone else. This movie actually makes politics very exciting and interesting to watch. The delicate issue of whether or not the power should be held by Ceasar or the senate is played throughout this film and actually is entertaining. At the same time Maximus is a slave who is forced to fight for his life for pure entertainment. As he fights his way into popularity through the crowd he gains their approval and limited power of the Ceasar through the mob.

            Russell Crowe is at his best in this movie. Even today he is known for this role. A single man fights because he has to, it is his duty to fight and command in the beginning of the movie. After he is condemned to death, and his family is murdered, he chooses death over life but death will not take him. Not yet. Then he fights for survival in the ring as a gladiator. Once he realizes there is power in the mob, he fights for the chance to get revenge on the one who killed his family. Fighting is a constant theme in this movie but the reasons and methods keep changing. Commodus is constantly fighting a political battle against the senate and a mind battle against his family and himself. He fights his father in the beginning because he wants to be Ceasar. He fights the senators because they aren’t respecting him in the way that he feels he should be. He fights with his sister to get into bed with him so she could bare his child. He fights with himself trying to scheme a way into the favor of the people of Rome. There are so many ways that people in this movie are fighting and they all have different reasons and end goals. Even though fighting is constantly looked down upon in our society this movie shows that there are times for fighting. Even if it doesn’t look like the normal fighting, it has its uses. There is a time for peace and a time for war.  It just depends on how bad you will fight for peace.

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The Tree of Life

This is my second Terrence Malick film. The first being “Days of Heaven” which I just didn’t get. I became bored after the first 15 minutes. “The Tree of Life” on the other hand took hold of me in a way that I never thought imaginable. This movie is the very definition of visual storytelling.

            As a father tries to bring up his kids in a world where he believes only the strong survive, the freedom of a child’s life is hammered away. Brad Pitt portrays the loving, and yet abusive father of the three little boys. Even though there are times when we want to hate him because of how he treats his wife and kids, he soon redeems himself and we are brought to the deal with the real idea of a natural family. In real life there are very few people who are as evil in the sense that movies portray them. This family is very dysfunctional, sure. At the same time they work together in love and fear. I have never seen a normal family portrayed so realistically in a movie before. There are joyous times when you just want to sit forever with the family and be a part of their personal moments. Spontaneous events are captured and quickly become the centerfold for education and spirituality. Challenges were either met with trepidation, intrigue, or excitement. The boys were facing giants and were supposed to know what to do. They all challenge other members of the family as well as question the nature of God as far as they can. If only they knew. God does answer.

           

Job 38: 4,7 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth… when the morning stars sang together?”

God answers back by showing his power, his beauty, his majesty through the creations his hands have made. Who are we to question the deity that has the power to create life itself? We are shown the beauty of God’s constructive power being held up against the sharp contrast of the destructive power of man. Man will always fight for power and control with everything he has and yet will never fully contain enough of it. Even later in life when the boy is a man of his own, he still wrestles with the questions and principles that were taught to him by his own father. What is the true purpose of this life? Where did all the joy in life go? Terrence Malick presents his audience with a problem that man has. The constant questioning of God’s role in our lives is becoming a nuisance to him apparently. We either put the blame on God for the troubles in our lives, or we don’t praise him for the blessings that we are given. Man continues to fight for approval from each other instead of realizing that it doesn't matter in the end. Life is simple. It is a tree growing a garden. Even when we try to guide it and give it nutrients, it will grow only because it is in it's nature to grow. We cannot tell it to stop growing. It is in it's design. 

Filmmaking is the art of visual story telling, and Malick did just that. He uses the camera’s eye to tell this story. His use of light, spontaneity, and editing make "The Tree of Life" a true work of art. Malick doesn’t present an answer to the questions he brings up. He just likes to hold up a mirror to society and let us all take a good long look at ourselves. 

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